PHLAC

It was July 1998, the first time I had seen Patti Smith perform live. That one show locked me into the live power of her music. It was the kind of experience you want everyone you know to feel as well, akin to a born again Christian who needs to validate a recent conversion. Her performance convinced me that rock and roll will always be just fine with imperfection, even simplicity—how the cracks and creases open up raw energy and bring an audience into the music more so than any other genre.

Now she’s 60 and evermore commanding. Her band, which now includes her son Jackson on guitar, along with the irreplaceable Lenny Kaye (guitar), Jay Dee Daugherty (drums), and Tony Shanahan (bass), has gotten tighter. Jackson shows a reverence for sixties and seventies sound filling up his solo spots with surprising virtuosity. The concert at The Beacon Theatre was dedicated to her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith, in celebration of the anniversary of his 59th birthday. The memories of their life together were rekindled throughout the night with Patti’s thread of anecdotes.

Special guests included Flea on bass, Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) and Jack Petruzelli (Fab Faux) on guitars.

Patti Smith has both a young and heavy spirit laid out for everyone in the audience. In sum, you’re lulled by a love song or two about her husband (“My Madrigal), wowed with the rising chorus uproar of “Eat Eat!” in “Summer of Cannibals,” sent into psychedelic dreamland by a cover of “Within and Without You,” rocked hard by her take of “Gimme Shelter,” and injected with fire, ready to holler in unison to “Rock-n-Roll Nigger.” A sentimental but uplifting Beacon finale with just mother and daughter Jesse on “Farewell Reel,” is perhaps the song that best reveals a woman who has known tragedy, loss, and victory.